filling in trenches

[superintendent]

How do yall fill in the trenches. Seem like my lines settle alot days later. I stomp them down. Like to know all yall do it

[mitchgo]

I guess you should stomp down more?

You aren't taking away dirt are you?

Physically speaking if you insert a item into something ( Pipe into dirt) you are displacing the original compound no matter what.

with the mere fact that it's almost impossible to compact dirt the same as it was. Simply digging up the ground and putting it back together generally displaces it ( To an amount thats usually not noticed)

So generally you should have an overage of dirt. This isn't always the case. due to wash off .. pipe breaks.. hills ects..

Typically you should compact dirt every 2-4 inches to get a good solid compaction

good luck

[1idejim]

Originally Posted by superintendent

How do yall fill in the trenches. Seem like my lines settle alot days later. I stomp them down. Like to know all yall do it

my theory is that the more uncompacted material you have, the more settling will occur.

You can't compact the sides or under the pipe so you have to really clean the ditch.

I don't believe in stacking pipe either, the potential for voids is too great.

I was required to jet plumbing ditches when i contract plumbed pools, they settled.

The best luck that i have had is using the backfill blade that i made for my baretto. small lifts, water and compact, repeat until you can wheel roll.

Other than that, dig the joint trenches with an excavator and maintain 6 in between pipes and wack it
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[Mike Leary]

Water-backfill, rake-off spoils, topdress, re-seed (if needed), mulch for germination.

[Mdirrigation]

trenches ? People still do that ? Sounds like work to me .

[RhettMan]

Originally Posted by Mdirrigation

trenches ? People still do that ? Sounds like work to me .

Its not work, my dad worked, he wore loafers and sat in a/c

What do they do now?

[RhettMan]

also,

Does it make sense to "save the grass", or make a visit to the turf yard... every day?

[cjohn2000]

If you are planning on putting the grass back that you cut out, then pack the dirt in the trench and leave a little bit of a crown in the middle of the trench. Now set your grass on top and use a tamper to settle it back to grade. The idea isn't to smash the grass into oblivion to get it flush. In my experience grass always settles in the middle otherwise.

[grassman177]

i got to do alot of this during summer, ground was too hard for anything else. trencher would only go down 10 in max, most was about 8inches. 1800 ft of pipe. dirt was plentiful, till we had a hard rain that washed some anc compacted it all. had to bring dirt in to finish the job. that was alot of work

[Mdirrigation]

Originally Posted by RhettMan

Its not work, my dad worked, he wore loafers and sat in a/c

What do they do now?

well for the last 25 to 30 years around here the vibratory plow is used , Bought mine in 1983. I have used a trencher 5 or 6 times since 1983 , never for a complete system , only trenched where it was too dangerous to run the plow ( crossing a steep slope )